Blairism's Long Death Rattle
The unpopularity of Blairism is obvious, but replacing it will be highly destabilising.
The New Labour elite in the civil service and the Labour Party itself is engaged in a serious internal battle.
The story, summarised, is this: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, rather than accept the blame for appointing the disgraced Lord Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States, is trying to blame senior mandarins in the civil service. Starmer is alleging that civil servants did not inform him that Lord Mandelson had failed the vetting process typical for all Foreign Office appointments, such as ambassadors. Lord Mandelson had to be dismissed from his post following revelations that he was one of convicted paedophile Jeffery Epstein’s closest friends, and that he had shared with him market-sensitive state secrets. Lord Mandelson, through his consultancy, was also working for companies linked to the Chinese and Russian governments. This was likely one of the reasons he failed his vetting.
Sir Keir, in an attempt to shift the blame, dismissed the most senior Foreign Office civil servant, Sir Oliver Robbins. Sir Oliver then testified to Parliament that it was Sir Keir’s personal office who repeatedly pressured the Foreign Office to approve Lord Mandelson’s appointment, and that they never wanted him to be vetted in the first place.
